RELATIONS OF DOMINANCE AND EQUALITY IN D. H. LAWRENCE

80
that when Paul tells her he does not want to marry her, she
evaluates their affair:
'Always — it has always been so!' she cried.
'It has been one long battle between us — you
fighting away from me.'
It came from her unawares, like a flash of
lightning. The man's heart stood still. Was this
how she saw it?
'But we've had some perfect hours, some perfect
times, where we were together]' he pleaded.
'NeverI' she cried, 'never! It has always been you
fighting me off.'
'Not always — not at first!' he pleaded.
'Always, from the very beginning — always the
same! ' (p. 362).
Paul's mind is only stuck to the idea that Miriam has deceived
him:
She had despised him when he thought she
worshipped him. She had let him say wrong things,
and had not contradicted him. She had let him
fight alone. But it stuck in his throat that she
had despised him whilst he thought she worshipped
him... All these years she had treated him 4s if
he were a hero, and thought of him secretly as an
infant, a foolish child. Then why had she left
the foolish child to his folly? His heart was
hard against her (p.364 - My underlining).
It is important to present Miriam's thoughts and the way she
evaluates her attitudes towards Paul:
She sat full of.bitterness. She had known-oh,
well she had known! All the time he was away from
her she had summed him up, seen his littleness,
his meanness,and his folly. Even she had guarded
her soui against him... Only why, as he sat there,
had he still this strange dominance over her? His
very movements fascinated as if she were hypnotized
by him. Yet he was despicable, false, inconsistent,
and mean... Why was she fastened to him? Why, even
now, if he looked at her and commanded her, would
she have to obey? She would obey him in his
trifling commands. But once he was obeyed, then
she had him in her power, she knew, to lead him
where she would. She was sure of herself. Only this
new influence! Ah, he was not a man! He was a baby
that cries for the newest toy. And all the
attachment of his soul would not keep him. Very
well, he would have to go. But he would come back
when he had tired of his new sensation (ibid - My
underlining).
Miriam seems to be the only one (besides Mrs Morel) who knows